By Nicole Back - Staff Writer
Although there is a shortage of road salt, Rowan County is pleased, overall, with the county road department’s performance during icy conditions.
Road Supervisor Tim Stevens attended Tuesday’s fiscal court meeting to make sure he was meeting the county’s expectations.
“I’ve got four hours sleep the last two nights worrying,” he told court members.
Judge-executive Jim Nickell said adjoining counties are doing much less, including Elliott, Morgan and Fleming.
“When you look at what other counties are doing, compared to what we’re doing, you’re doing a good job, Tim,” Nickell said.
Montgomery County is using a 50/50 mixture of pea gravel and salt, he added.
“You can get some traction on ice,” Stevens said. “The problem that I’ve seen with them is if you’re plowing snow and it’s flying over the top of your truck back into your bed, those rocks will freeze on you and it’ll clump up in your salt.”
Nickell reminded him that all counties are dealing with the salt shortage.
“I’m going to be honest with you guys,” Stevens said. “We have, in the past, used way too much salt. There is not a doubt in my mind. Normally we’re using 125 to 135 tons per round in this county. I’ve used 175 up until (Sunday) on five or six events.”
He has stretched the county’s salt supply by mixing it with sawdust. The sawdust keeps roads from re-freezing. At the start of winter, the county road department had 600 tons of sawdust. It now has 300 tons.
Crews start de-icing the county’s roads by treating critical areas such as hills, curves and areas with a heavy traffic flow.
Sunday, Jan. 18 was the first day the road department treated the entire county. It took Stevens and his crew nine hours to treat the county’s 666 roads.
He said it would be a good idea to make his trial solution to the nation’s salt shortage a permanent one.
He worries about when and when not to treat roads.
“I’m here to tell you when you know you’ve got 600 ton (of sawdust) and three months of bad weather, it’s a hard call,” he said.
Salt companies are charging double, compared to last year, according to Nickell.
The judge assured Stevens that if it looks like the county will run out of salt and sawdust, the county will have to “bite the bullet” and buy more, whatever the cost.
